This section of the tutorial provides tips on identifying what type of source you might find most useful for your research. Appropriately matching the type of information to your context can make your work stronger.
You can learn a lot about information sources based on their intended audience, authors or creators, and purpose. Think about these three factors as you do your research. Here's how two commonly used sources usually compare to each other:
Every information context is different, so the types of sources that best match a need will vary. Knowing what types of sources you're looking for can clue you in to the level of authority, the intended audience, and even how you might use each information source. Explore the different information needs below for more information.
Tip: Always confirm assignment instructions. If they say to use 2 newspaper articles and 2 academic journal articles, stick to the requirements and/or have a conversation with your instructor if you get stuck.
Expand each section below to learn more, and look for additional definitions in the Definition of Terms page:
Background or General Information
When you need to find general information about your research topic or issue (including finding viewpoints), you'll likely want to use:
When you need to find local information about your research topic or issue you'll likely want to use:
Scholarly or Academic Information
When you need to find scholarly/academic research or studies about your research topic or issue you'll likely want to use:
Expand each section below to learn more, and look for additional definitions in the Definition of Terms page:
A database contains citations of articles in magazines, journals, and newspapers. They may also contain citations to podcasts, blogs, videos, and other media types. Some databases contain abstracts or brief summaries of the articles, while other databases contain complete, full-text articles. Many databases have a specific subject area so the content is more targeted for you (i.e. “Psychology and Behavioral Sciences”). Items in databases are usually paid for, go through the commercial publishing process, and have been evaluated by a publisher or group of experts. It’s important to access databases from the library website with your SLCC credentials. Otherwise it’s not free! Use library databases to:
Tip: Look for subject-specific resources on the Library's Research Guides.
Library resources do not include most blogs, websites, social media, and other content found on the open web. It’s usually appropriate to search for your topic on the internet, especially if the sources you need fall outside the library. However, you may not be able to access every article or website you find. Use the internet to:
A library catalog is an organized and searchable collection of records of every item in a library and can be found on the library home page. The catalog will point you to the location of a particular source, or group of sources, that the library owns on your topic. Use the catalog to:
Tip: At SLCC, we have a stand-alone library catalog in addition to a combined catalog/database, called “OneSearch.” We’ll explore this in more detail in the next section. You can use all of our online services from home after logging in with your MySLCC username and password when prompted.
Some of the information on this page was adapted from Virginia Tech Libraries as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
